THURSDAY, Oct. 22, 2020 — In a move that widens the pool of people considered at risk for coronavirus infection, U.S. health officials released new guidance on Wednesday that redefines who’s considered a “close contact” of an infected individual. The change, issued by the U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, will likely have the […]
The European Commission on Monday launched an EU-wide system devised to link national COVID-19 tracing apps together in its latest effort to slow down the coronavirus pandemic. Following testing in different EU countries earlier this autumn, the bloc’s executive arm said the system got underway with three national apps—Germany’s Corona-Warn-App, Ireland’s COVID tracker, and Italy’s […]
What is contact tracing, and how does it work with COVID-19? The goal of contact tracing is to alert people who may have been exposed to someone with the coronavirus, and prevent them from spreading it to others. Health experts say contact tracing is key to containing the virus and allowing places to reopen more […]
Early on in the pandemic, lockdown and physical distancing measures were able to slow the spread of COVID-19 and bring case numbers down. But as the U.S. has begun to reopen, the number of new cases has surged in many places. To reopen safely and keep from overwhelming hospital capacities, according to public health officials, […]
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Wednesday the country will have 25,000 virus tracing staff recruited by June so the country can “make progress” in its strategy to keep easing the nationwide lockdown. The government is under pressure to get the recruits in place to operate alongside a smartphone tracing app to allow large-scale testing […]
For all the anticipation around new COVID-19 tests, therapeutics and vaccines, public health experts know that the end of the pandemic will depend also on a low-tech, tried-and-true tactic—contact tracing. Contact tracing sounds simple: alert anyone who has been in contact with an infected person and prevent them from spreading the disease to others. Yet […]
You might have heard about contact tracing which, when combined with social distancing, has proven a powerful asset in controlling the spread of COVID-19. In short, it means assigning a “contact tracer” to interview each person with a confirmed case of COVID-19. The contact tracer, through painstaking and quick detective work, finds out who else […]
